
Suburbs outside of Metropolis
Zach’s phone vibrated nonstop.
98,412 unread messages.
#ZATARAMAGIC trending.
Clips from his stream had been turned into memes. The internet worked fast.
Zach closed his eyes and groaned.
“Great. I finally go viral and it’s because I accidentally reenacted the opening scene of a horror movie.” He picked up his wand. A cheap, black and white magician’s wand he bought for the aesthetic. Now it was glowing with purple energy. Very much unlike a two-dollar party prop.
“Okay,” he whispered, pacing in a circle.
“Okay okay okay. So… that wasn’t CGI. That wasn’t a trick. That was…” His voice cracked.
“…real magic.”As if offended by the weakness in his tone, the wand flickered brighter.
Zach jumped.
“Excuse me? I’m working through something here. Chill.”This wasn’t a prank. This wasn’t a bit. This wasn’t him trying to emulate his uncle in his bedroom with dollar-store props. This… whatever it was… is something bigger than him.
His laptop pinged. A news alert lit up the screen:
“MYSTERIOUS FLYING MAN SAVES HUNDREDS — MID-AIR PLANE DISASTER AVERTED.”
Daily Planet Exclusive
Eyewitnesses report a man wielding impossible strength and flight pulling the aircraft to safety.
Zach blinked hard. It was an article from a month ago. Zach had no reason to pay attention to this stuff before. But after this incident, he had reason to now.
A flying man? Like… actually flying? Not a drone, not special effects, not a publicity stunt? His heart raced. If other impossible things were happening… publicly, visibly, then what happened to him wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t a hallucination brought on by stress or sugar-free energy drinks. It meant he wasn’t the only one changing.
The wand warmed in his hand again. Almost like it agreed.
Zach swallowed.
“…okay. So superhumans are real. Cool. Awesome. Not terrifying at all.” But his voice trembled.
“I need answers,” he whispered.
“Someone out there knows what’s going on. Someone has to.” He took one last look at the glowing wand.
“I’m going into Metropolis.” Then, after a beat, he added quickly.
“And I am absolutely not telling my parents.”